


Practice Makes Perfect

by HeithChief



Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance, pairs skate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 08:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9114688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeithChief/pseuds/HeithChief
Summary: This was inspired by a post I saw on tumblr by garbage-dono. I got permission to write this and it is also posted on my tumblr.Yuuri is upset about not winning gold and reflects on his relationship with Victor. He intends to sulk in his room for the rest of the night. Victor finds him and cheers him up with his plans for Yuuri's gala exhibition free skate. Since neither has performed a pairs skate, it takes many tries to get it right. (Basically Yuuri and Victor falling and messing up while being totally in love.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first contribution to the YOI fandom and will hopefully be one of many. But who knows with my random inspirations and sporadic schedules. I hope you all like it and please leave a comment~. *Cheeky wink* I take fic requests on my tumblr: asliverofhope-the-fangirl so feel free to send me a prompt in my ask box.  
> Song Inspirations (as always):  
> "Weak" - AJR  
> "Say You Won't Let Go" - James Arthur  
> "King" - Lauren Aquilina

Inspired by [this](http://garbage-dono.tumblr.com/post/154788301629/alright-but-whatever-you-do-dont-think-about)

* * *

 

Yuuri had to admit, although he had given the performance of a lifetime for his free skate, he felt let down. If only he had done better in his short program, he would have won gold. At the end of his free skate, he was still stuck on his decision to retire. When he missed gold by a mere .12 and it killed him a little inside. He was proud to stand on the podium, but it wasn’t what he had wished for. Victor had been thrilled by his free skate and teased him for not winning gold. In barely two minutes, Victor had convinced him to stay on for another season so they could skate together.

 Honestly that had been his dream, but he never imagined he would achieve it. Not only had his free skate had the same difficulty as Victor’s, but it had surpassed his record. Yuuri was proud, but also disappointed at the same time. The look in Victor’s eyes mirrored his emotions. Victor wanted to see him win gold so he couldn’t give up. He respected Victor and loved him so he couldn’t give up when he hadn’t even achieved what they had set out to do. Also, Victor did wish he’d never retire and he silently promised that he’d retire only when Victor did.

              Yuuri had left the celebrations to go up to their room. The next two nights before his exhibition would be their last in this room. A sad smile graced his lips as he realized it would probably be the last time they slept in the same bed. He smiled, fondly this time, when he looked at their beds pushed together in the center of the room. They had done that the first night so they could each use it as an excuse to cuddle up to one another. He couldn’t be around the celebration right now when his heart still felt heavy. With Victor returning to competitive skating, he’d have to try even harder to win gold now. He wasn’t sure he could even do that, but he would never break a promise he’d made to Victor.

It wasn’t over, everything felt like it was just beginning. He wondered what the future would be with him and Victor. Yuuri looked down at the gold ring on his finger and smiled. He had been so happy when Victor called them engagement rings. Victor had been joking of course. He was that type of flamboyant person and even the kiss wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Victor. Even if it wasn’t real for Victor, it had always been real for Yuuri. From the start, he’d admired Victor and was embarrassed by even thought of being close to him, but now he wasn’t sure he knew how to live without it. He wanted to stay with Victor, but he knew they’d have to go their separate ways.

              “Yuuri! There you are, I’ve been looking for you.” Victor burst into their room and saw the sadness in Yuuri’s eyes. “Yuuri? What’s wrong?” He tried to pull Yuuri into a hug, but Yuuri stepped away.

              “I’m just…disappointed. If I hadn’t messed up short program, I would have won.”

              “I’m disappointed too Yuuri, of course I am, but that’s why you’re coming back next season! If your short program had been perfect, like I know it could be, and you skate a free program like you did tonight, even I might not be able to beat you!” Victor took Yuuri’s hands and squeezed them with excited determination. “You finally let yourself out of warm up mode and you can only improve from here! I know you can.”

              Yuuri smiled at Victor, but inside he was still sad. “If I can ever skate like that again.”

              “Don’t say that! I came to coach you because I was lost. I always surprised my audience, but after a while, nothing I did surprised them. I didn’t know what to do. Then I saw your skating. You really felt the music and your step sequences were mesmerizing! I knew I could make you into the great skater, you are. I just wanted to be near you.”

              “Will you go back Russia after tonight so you can focus on your comeback?” Yuuri asked, still covering up what he really wanted to say. _Will you leave me? If you’re not my coach, then you have no reason to stay with me._

              “Yes, but I want you to come with me! We’ll train together. I promised to be your coach until you retire, remember?” Victor grinned at him, hoping to make Yuuri smile too, but Yuuri’s eyes were still sad.

              “But you staying as my coach will kill you as a competitive skater!” Yuuri finally said the words he’d been thinking during his free program.

              Victor dropped Yuuri’s hands and ran a hand over his face in frustration. “Haven’t you been listening? Being with you has saved my skating! Last year,” Victor blushed a little at the thought of bringing this up. “We both got drunk at the banquet and we danced together. Then you asked me to come see you at your family’s hot springs. You asked me to be your coach and I think I fell for you a little. Then I saw you skating my routine with such passion and I didn’t forget those feelings.”

              “Wait! Are you saying you have romantic feelings for me?” Yuuri jumped forward and grabbed onto Victor’s shoulders. He hadn’t meant to be so forceful, but he had to know for sure.

              “Yuuri…” Victor groaned. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been pursuing you this whole time, only to figure out you didn’t remember the banquet night with me at all! I _kissed_ you! What else would that mean?”

              “I…I thought you were just trying to surprise me. That’s what you said. Maybe you give kisses as congratulations? I don’t know!”  His words rushed out in a surprised panic. His heart thudded when he realized Victor was about to negate everything he had said. Could he really have everything he wanted? Was their relationship real for Victor too?

              Victor shook his head. He knew Yuuri could be dense when it came to romantic feelings, but he didn’t know it was this bad. “If you need me to spell it out for you, I will. I want you to stay by my side because I’m in love with you. I know you brushed it off as joke, but I meant it when I said these rings were engagement rings.” He held up his hand and smiled as the ring caught the light. “I think we could motivate each other to be better skaters and I want to be in a relationship with you.”

              Yuuri’s eyes widened and he had the sudden urge to run away as a blush overtook his face. “…oh. I want that too.” This wasn’t the time to run away. He could lose Victor and this was his chance to stay with him.

              Victor’s eyes lit up when he finally comprehended Yuuri’s words. After all this time, all the pining he’d done, it was finally real. He threw his arms around Yuuri’s waist and kissed him. It was only their second kiss and it was wildly different from their first. Before, Yuuri thought it was a congratulatory kiss, but this one had a romantic feel to it. If there was an imaginary line that divided friendship and relationship, they just crossed it. This kiss was the no turning back point and neither could imagine going back. Victor pulled back and was happy that Yuuri’s eyes were as glassy as he knew his were. Neither had shared a kiss like that with anyone else before.

              “Now that we’ve cleared that up, I wanted discuss your exhibition skate. There are no limits here so you can do whatever you want.”

              “I want to skate your ‘Stay By Me’ routine! Now that my free skate had the same difficulty as yours, I know I can do it!” Yuuri didn’t miss a beat or hesitate in asking for this. Now that he knew the extent of Victor’s feelings for him, he felt more confident than before. He also had a secret inkling that Victor would do anything for him.

              Victor grinned and hugged Yuuri. “I was hoping you’d say that! You skated it when you were out of shape and now that you’re practiced, I know you’ll make it breath-takingly beautiful! I want to surprise the audience in way neither of us have before. Since this free skate has no rules, I think we could pull it off.” Yuuri gave him a look of confusion as Victor ran to the closet and pulled out a garment bag. Victor was visibly excited about as he unzipped the black bag. Yuuri moved to stand behind him and looked over his shoulder to get a better view. He gasped when his new costume was revealed. It was an exact match to Victor’s costume from last year, except it was blue. He felt his eyes watering at the sight of it. He was so happy he could barely speak.

              “V-Victor! It’s perfect!” Yuuri wrapped his arms around Victor’s middle and squeezed him in a tight hug from behind. He was sure Victor could feel his heart pounding and he smiled. Victor leaned back into his boyfriend, nuzzling his head into Yuuri’s neck. Finally, _finally_ , he was actually allowed to touch Yuuri without limits. Not that he was shy about hugging lately, but now they had an official label on their relationship.

              Victor twisted in Yuuri’s hold to face him and pressed a kiss onto Yuuri’s forehead. He laid one of his hands on Yuuri’s face. “I’m happy you like it.” Victor grinned at him, and he was excited about the other surprise he had for Yuuri. “What is your biggest skating dream?”

              Yuuri bit his lip and he almost didn’t say it aloud, but he wasn’t going to hold back any longer. Now that he and Victor were together, he promised himself he wouldn’t do that. “To skate with you.”

              “I was hoping you’d say that. I want you start out the routine alone and then we’ll surprise the audience by having me join you on the ice. I’ve never choreographed a pairs routine, but I think I can figure it out. I’d like to have a few lifts in there. It will commemorate our journey so far and show our futures for skating. You may have think you peaked this year, but I disagree completely. You finally showed me what you’re truly capable of.”

              Victor had just said everything Yuuri had wanted to hear and he couldn’t control his excitement. He threw all of his body weight into Victor who was not at all ready for the impact. They tumbled backwards onto the bed and laughed as they fell.

              “So, I’m guessing that means you liked that idea.” Victor teased. Yuuri nodded and kissed Victor. This kiss was again, different. Victor felt Yuuri’s gratefulness and the way Yuuri took the lead in the kiss. He gasped when he felt Yuuri’s tongue graze his lower lip. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, because Yuuri always continued to surprise him. Their tongues meet and it’s a bit sloppy at first, but they both loved it regardless. They continued kissing for a little while until Victor pulled back. “You should get some rest. We don’t have a lot of practice time before the exhibition.” Yuuri pouted at him a bit, but did as he was told. The cuddled up together and both drifted off with dreams of their future together.

* * *

 

               Yuuri wasn’t a morning person, but today he jumped out of bed, but of course Victor was already up. He saw a note, next to breakfast Victor had left for him, on the nightstand.

              _I went down early to practice the choreography. You better be up to join me soon. Eat up, you’ll need your energy today! Love you._

Yuuri smiled and rolled his eyes a little at the way Victor signed his name, with a little heart over the i. if he thought Victor was cheesy before, he was even more so now. He quickly ate and changed so he could start skating with Victor as soon as possible.

He was about to step onto the ice when he saw Victor, but he was frozen in place. Victor was skating parts of a step sequence Yuuri hadn’t seen before. Victor was really beautiful, no one could deny that, but watching him skate made Yuuri’s breath hitch in his throat. His moves were so beautiful and artistic, almost no one could compare and get a higher performance score, except maybe Yuuri. He’d never see that himself, but because of Yuuri’s talent in dance, his performance scores were always high.

              Victor finally noticed Yuuri when a spin turned his view to entrance of the rink. “Yuuri! Good, you’re here. I was wondering if I’d have to come get you out of bed.”

              “Victor, that choreography is beautiful.” Yuuri murmured, still stunned by his boyfriend.

              “Come and try it then! I know you’ll do it even more beautifully than me!” Victor held a hand out to Yuuri and he skated onto the ice to join him. “So, I was thinking we’d load the front end of the routine with jumps because that’s how I usually did it. Also, because of the lifts, we won’t be doing the complicated ones in the latter half. You’ll do the quad flip of course as well as quad Salchow. I know you can land those, so we’ll start with the new parts first. You’ll just have come out of your third jump when I join you on ice.”

He moved his hands to position Yuuri correctly, leaving a hand lingering on Yuuri’s waist longer than necessary. “Follow my lead and we’ll get it. I know you have ballroom dance experience and this will be like an elegant dance. We’ll switch leading and following. Eros focused on your sex appeal, but your artistry and beauty are your real strengths.” Victor pressed a kiss onto Yuuri’s cheek. “And trust me, I saw that sex appeal at the banquet.” Yuuri blushed at this, but Victor hardly gave him time to react to his retort.

              Victor skated over to Yuuri and took his hand and pulling himself close to Yuuri. He placed a hand on Yuuri’s waist and guided Yuuri’s hand to the side of his face. They pulled away a bit and skated side by side, holding hands. Yuuri’s heart was pounding in his chest from Victor’s touches and he wondered if Victor had the same reactions. This dance was so intimate and tender at the same time. If he were watching them, he was sure he’d be blushing. “Okay, Yuuri, we’re going into the lift now. It’ll be from behind, both will be. Keep your core tight and trust me. I’ll guide you through it.”

              Yuuri smiled at him. “You always do. I’ll do my best.” Victor’s heart rate spiked at the comment and he returned Yuuri’s fond smile.

He skated behind him. “I’ll lift you at the waist, from behind, but you’ll rotate to face me as we land.” Victor lifted Yuuri with ease, but the landing was the hard part. He guided Yuuri’s rotation, but Yuuri came down on the ice too fast and too hard. Yuuri lost his footing and started to fall. Unfortunately, his hand was around Victor’s neck and they both went down. Yuuri’s breath rushed out of his lungs as he hit the ice on his back. Victor’s fall was not graceful either, he flopped down onto top of Yuuri and Yuuri let out a rough cough along with cry of pain. He shut his eyes as he gasped for breath and waited for Victor to start lecturing him.

Laughter vibrated through Victor’s chest and Yuuri felt Victor’s body shaking against his own. He opened his eyes and smiled. Good, neither of them were hurt. His boyfriend’s laughter was infectious and he laughed with Victor. There were tears in Victor’s eyes as he looked down at Yuuri. The tears weren’t from pain, but from laughter. Victor’s eyes were always beautiful and Yuuri got lost in their fond gaze. Even now, after three kisses and a confession, he still barely believed Victor loved him. It was in that look, but _the_ Victor Nikiforov was now his boyfriend or _fiancé._ The thought made him giddy and he knew he was looking at Victor in an equally sappy way.

 “Well, that didn’t go as planned, but not bad for our first try.” Victor placed a gentle hand on Yuuri’s face and caressed him softly. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Yuuri shook his head quickly. “The fall hurt initially, but I’m fine. Are you hurt? Is your back okay?”

“I’m fine, Yuuri, don’t worry.” He got up and brushed himself off before holding a hand out to Yuuri. Still giggling a bit, Yuuri took Victor’s hand and let Victor help him to his feet. “Let’s try again.”

The second time went better than the first, they managed to stay on their feet this time, but the landing was rough and wobbly. Third time was the charm or nearly, the lift was beautiful, as well as the way Yuuri felt when he spun in Victor’s careful hold. Yuuri landed smoothly and Victor was about to let out a shout of joy. But, when he dipped them, Yuuri lost his footing and fell. Victor snickered a little, but held in his laughter as Yuuri groaned under his breath.

“We almost had it!” He frowned and cursed himself.

“Hey, it was better than last time.” Victor helped him up and nuzzled his nose with Yuuri’s in an Eskimo kiss. It immediately made Yuuri smile and bite his lip. “I can feel it, this time for sure.” Yuuri nodded and took a deep breath. Victor lifted him again and it felt more controlled than the previous ones. Yuuri landed gracefully and managed to keep his footing this time. Victor grinned as they were both barely and inch apart at the end. “Perfect! Next—”

Yuuri cut Victor’s words off with a kiss. Now that he knew he could kiss Victor whenever he wanted, he couldn’t get enough. Victor pulled him closer, his skate sliding between Yuuri’s as he deepened the kiss and pressed closer.

“Hey! Don’t get too distracted now, we’re practicing!” Victor chided, shaking his finger at Yuuri when the kiss lingered for too long.

“Now you start sounding like a coach.” Yuuri teased.

“I am your coach. We’ve barely gotten through the choreography.” Yuuri rolled his eyes, but followed Victor’s lead as they worked through the rest of the step sequences. The second lift, less complicated than the first, went smoothly. “Okay, let’s run it with the music. Perform the first part of my Stay By Me routine as you normally would have.” Victor skated off to the side to start the music and to give Yuuri room to perform. Yuuri started perfectly in sync with the music and Victor’s chest felt tight.

No one could compare to how beautifully Yuuri could skate when he put his all into it. He held his breath as Yuuri transitioned into the first jump. Yuuri landed it perfectly and Victor shook his head with a smile. Yuuri had come a long way from the skater he was last year. Pride swelled in his chest as he thought of their time together. He was happy that he inspired that change in Yuuri. The way Yuuri skated with so much emotion, had peaked his interest and he felt he grew as a person just by helping Yuuri improve. He felt alive, happy, and a feeling of love that he didn’t know was possible until he met Yuuri.

He was so distracted by Yuuri that he nearly missed his cue. He shook it off and skated over, pulling Yuuri close before following the rest of the choreography. Yuuri gave him a confident smile over his shoulder as they prepared for the first lift. They both cheered in their heads as they landed it gracefully. Yuuri spun closer and reached his hand out to touched Victor’s face as planned, but Victor realized Yuuri was coming in too fast. “Yuuri, wait!” Instead of a caress, Yuuri had slapped him across the face. They missed their next cue and Yuuri’s eyes went wide. Luckily it wasn’t a hard slap, but it still had more force behind it than he intended. “Is that how you stroke your lover’s face? No wonder you haven’t had one in the past.” It was a joke, but Victor’s tone was icy.

Victor rubbed his face and Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh at Victor’s joke. It started as a small snicker, but once knew Victor wasn’t hurt, he couldn’t help but let out the giggles. “Sorry, Victor. Let me try again.”

Victor pouted at him. “It’s not funny. Start from the top.” He skated off to the side to restart the music.

“I love you!”

Victor stumbled a little in surprise. They had only said it a couple of times and he still wasn’t used to it. He turned around to look at Yuuri, blushing a little bit. “I love you too. Start again.” He watched Yuuri’s skating carefully, and it was as perfect as the first time. He wondered if Yuuri was finally set free now that everything was out in the open. It must have been hard holding in feelings that he wasn’t sure were returned. Every touch could have had double meanings or they could have just been friendship. He was glad Yuuri knew now, because he really did like being physically affectionate.

He skated over and joined Yuuri for his part of the routine again and they managed to get through it without any hiccups. Victor was so happy with the result that he lifted Yuuri into the air and spun them around, pulling Yuuri close as he did. Yuuri let out a chuckle of happiness and wrapped his arms tightly around Victor’s shoulders. He never though he’d be able to live out this dream and now that he did, he was happy. Training together, they could do this every day and Yuuri couldn’t wait. Victor made them run the routine until the last rehearsal left them exhausted and gasping for breath.

“Yuuri, you really do have amazing stamina when you’re in shape. Don’t you dare binge eat this year.” Victor straighten up and winked at Yuuri.

“I’m happy at the end of this season. I don’t have the need.”

Victor smiled and his stomach flipped when he saw the earnest look in Yuuri’s eyes. “Let’s do a couple laps to cool down.” He took Yuuri’s hand, lacing their fingers. Yuuri lazily followed Victor’s lead and held his gaze with true, euphoric, love.

Yuri entered the rink again and groaned in frustration when he saw the two still using it. He made a loud gaging sound in the back of his throat as he noticed them making gaga eyes at each other. He had only checked the rink earlier, so he had no idea what they were practicing. Nor did he care. “Hey losers! Others of us have to practice too!”

Shaken out of their daze, the both looked to see Yuri standing there with a glare. “Yuri~! You can join us.”

“I’d rather die. You’re done, aren’t you?”

They both looked at Yuri, then at each other and laughed. “Yes, and you’ll be seeing a lot of us in off season. Yuuri accepted my offer to move to Russia to train together! Coach Yakov will be helping me and I’ll be coaching Yuuri!”

Yuri wrinkled his nose and passed by them as he entered the rink. “Great. Like I need more that piggy in my life. And that was way more than I needed to know. Oversharing again, Victor.” He grumbled and waited for them to leave before he started practicing. Yuri would never say it aloud, but he was happy for them. Sure, Yuuri was annoying, but he acknowledged his skills as a competitor at least. He finally got to skate against Yuuri when Yuuri was at his best. Next year he would beat that score.

“I’ll get him to admit we’re all friends one day.” Victor murmured as they walked out of the rink.

Yuuri squeezed their intertwined hands and smiled at Victor. “I’m sure you will.” Victor had helped him when he thought he was a lost cause. If Victor could help him become the great skater he was meant to be, then Victor could do anything.

* * *

 

After just two long days of practice, the Gala Exhibition day had arrived. They had practiced the routine many times and both were confident that it would go over well. Yuuri was about to step onto the ice when Victor stopped him. He rolled his eyes and started adjusting the buttons on Yuuri’s costume. “You always get this part crooked, Yuuri, how can you go out like this?”

“I guess, I’m lucky I have you to fix it.” He reached over and adjusted the rope pieces on Victor’s shoulder.

“You look good in blue.”

“Because it matches your eyes?” Yuuri teased.

Victor laughed quietly, “Possibly,” and smirked at him. “But seriously, this costume looks best on you. You look really handsome.”

“And you look good in that purple. Thank you for everything this season, Victor. I know I’ve said it several times, but I mean it.” Yuuri leaned forward and stole a good luck kiss from Victor’s lips.

Victor grinned at him and put his hands on Yuuri’s shoulders. He looked him in the eye and took a deep breath, encouraging Yuuri to do the same. “Just breathe and forget about getting it perfect. Clear your mind and you’ll be great. You always do well when you’re not overthinking everything.” Yuuri nodded and Victor watched him as he skated to center ice. He grinned with giddy pride for his student and fiancé as they announced his name. He wanted gold, but he was still proud that Yuuri got silver. Yet he wouldn’t tell Yuuri that, then it would give him permission to settle. He didn’t want Yuuri to be good enough, he wanted him to be great.

The routine started and Victor watched as Yuuri captured the audience with his first step sequence. This time, Yuuri’s “Stay By Me” was more polished and refined than it had been in the viral video. Victor hoped the crowd could see how Yuuri had changed. His smile grew wider with each jump that Yuuri landed and with those jumps, the audience cheered louder. Right before his cue, Victor removed his blade covers and stepped onto the ice. Just like he’d planned with the production team, the spotlight changed from blue to purple when he joined Yuuri.

The audience gasped and cheered in surprise with Victor’s entrance. He heard every gasp at their tender touches and cheers when they nailed the lift better than in any practice session. There was something about competing that brought out the best in them. Jumps that Yuuri would nail in practice, he’d get them in front of the audience. Victor wanted every touch, every moment to linger, but this routine had to be perfect. It was Yuuri’s final exhibition of this season and the closing on his “love” theme. Yuuri hadn’t meant it at the time, but his love for skating soon turned into his love for Victor.

They finished the routine facing each other and grinning as they caught their breath. Their fellow skaters cheered the loudest and they could hear Yuri’s vocal protests over everyone else. It made them smile wider and chuckle. No matter where next year took them, this pairs skate was the beginning of a season skating together with love.

             

             

             


End file.
